What Kentucky drag performer and activist
is featured in this month's Rolling Stone
magazine for Pride Month and is opening
up about a number of issues facg
the country and important issues that
are happening right here in Kentucky.
Dustin Rayburn, AKA Dusty Ray Bottoms,
joins us in studio to talk abou.
This wild ride you've been on,
thanks for joining us here at Great Day Live.
Thanks for having me.
This is so awesome.
And happy Pride month,
Happy Pride month to you.
So you've been kind of busy.
Yeah, we've been all over the pe
unpack kind of Rolling Stone magazine.
We have some incredible pictureo
show everybody because that's a big deal.
But the last time that drag performers
featured in Rolling Stone was what Ru Paul.
Ru Paul back in the 90s,
there hasn't been another drag n
and now we have me. Mistress Is.
Ora, a bunch of other Queens.
Carrie Colby. It's just so awes.
And I mean the look is incredib.
You had a say in kind of what you would
wear, right? For the photo shoo,
they told us what the article
would be about about the drag
band sweeping across America.
So I stayed up all night the night before,
cutting out and sewing up a new look.
I wanted to look like I
was so much stressed.
Just thinking about that.
I literally felt like
I was in the workroom again on Drag Race.
Trying to a new challenge, tryio
come up with a new look for a runway.
Oh my goodness. And then I mean,
when did it finally sink in?
I mean to be featured in Rolling
Stone with this headline,
with this article to you that
had to be a big full circle
moment and when did it hit you?
I would probably say
when the article actually came ,
you know, you have Rolling Stont
your house shooting you at your house
in the backyard interviewing you about
these drag bands and and your history.
And they all left.
And I was like, wow, that happe.
But then when the issue came oud
I had it in my hands and I could
read it and see it, it was like,
I cannot believe this is a thing and it was
just a big full circle moment for me because,
you know, growing up.
Here in Kentucky, Anna,
as a young queer kid,
there isn't a lot of representa.
And it's so great that I could just like,
see this coffee and see myself.
Actually, me and now a young, d,
young Dustin can look at this ie
and see this and read this and d
hope and see themselves in this.
I hope.
Absolutely. And you, you've had this journey.
I think that a lot of people look at and go,
wow, I want to do that too.
Not easy, but you've you,
you were on Ru Paul's Drag Race.
You know, you've lived in New Y,
and then, you know,
then you wanted to come back. H.
Your your husband's here in the studio.
I mean, how did that happen tha,
you know, from, you know what,
we need to be back home.
We want to be back home.
You know, it was all a wild thi.
Born and raised here.
I went to Floyd Central High Sc.
I was very involved in the theater arts.
If it wasn't for the theater program,
I probably wouldn't have
graduated high school.
I performed with Derby Dinner,
Playhouse, Music Theatre of Louisville.
Stage one, I was always involved
in the theater arts here.
If there was a show going on anI
lived here, I was probably in i.
So I saw New York as my way of being able
to live my true, authentic queer life.
I didn't feel like I could do that at
the time with my current circumstances.
So when I got to New York and I
found my tribe and my family,
my chosen family and drag,
that's when I found my husband .
The pandemic happened.
We got married because the pandc
frightened us a little bit.
As queer people,
we weren't married yet and we we
afraid that if something happened to us,
would my husband be able to
have any says on anything?
So we got married and then the universe
literally brought us back here.
We've been able to build a
relationship with my family,
which is really great.
There's a lot of love and it's
been great to be back and be
a part of this community.
You're also one of the featured voices.
You tell your story.
In the documentary Conversion,
directed by another Louisville native,
Zach Minors. Zach Minors,
did that come easy for you to say Yes,
I want to be a part of it,
Or once you were in the
middle of the interview,
you thought, no, no, no,
This is important for me to be .
You know, it wasn't an easy thing for
me to want to be a part of at f.
When I was on Drag Race,
I shared my story about going
through conversion therapy,
and it wasn't until.
I shared that story on national television,
that I had a full circle,
Me too moment when people were reaching
out to me saying I too went thrh
conversion therapy or my brother or so.
And so that's when I knew I wasn't alone
in this issue and I knew that I had to
raise my voice and share my story more.
You know, when you grow up in the church,
you're always afraid to speak.
Out against anything that may he
happened to you in the church.
I still love my relationship
with God and everything,
but I want to tell people abouts
thing that happened and I want o
make people aware about it and .
Zach asked me if I would be a part of this.
I was hesitant and scared,
but something in my gut said no,
step forward, speak up.
And Zach made me feel so comfortable in
meeting a fellow survivor of conversion
therapy that I just opened righ.
And I'm so glad that we were abe
to make this documentary togeth.
The documentary is out
now and it's played at.
It's been screened at a number of well known,
well respected film festivals ad
I mean just looking at some of
the promotional Flyers for it,
it's it's. It's really,
it's really did get noticed.
It's very
touching. We just won the Trail Blazers
award at the Portland Film Fest.
We just won a couple more award.
I have them on the tip of my br.
I can't tell you, I'm sorry,
I know, but it's very exciting.
We're having a release later this year.
We're very excited for it.
And I feel like to you,
you get the opportunity.
I want to make people know where they
can connect with you because you make
an effort to connect with peopl.
If you are performing at Lamu, absolutely.
You find that your opportunity
because you said, what?
There's just like a ton
of suburban moms in there.
Ton of suburban moms,
a lot of Suv's in that parking .
Absolutely.
And we love it. And I always
Why is that an opportunity for
you to maybe reach somebody that
doesn't understand your story
or where you come? Absolutely.
Well, you know,
I was mainly a performer in Newk
City and performing in New York City.
I got to perform in the West Vie
for queer people at night all the time.
Here in Kentucky, I'm performinr
a lot of straight people on all,
hardly any queer people for bru.
So it's so I'm not changing any
queer people's minds like I'm q.
They know exactly where I've be.
But a lot of straight people don't know.
So it's so nice to be able to se
a room full of allies and strait
people and change some minds.
I always tell them, look around here.
There are a lot more of you
all than there are me.
When you leave this room,
your voices are mighty and we
need you today more than ever.
So please stand up for us.
Please raise your voices.
Please stick up for us.
You're so needed.
You're so appreciated and loved today.
Well
where can people follow you and besides Lamu,
but where else can they connect
with you and and just all your r
journeys and you follow me on sl
media. Look up dusty ray bottom.
Dusty ray on Instagram
say hello send me a message give me a follow.
I'd love to see you at Lamu sometime as well.
Thank you so much for stopping y
Great day live and connecting wh
our audience and sharing your s.
And thanks to Mark as well.
Thanks for having me. This is awesome.